$972,000 Payday for Recession-beaten Couple

Countless bloggers, reporters and plain old curiosity-seekers have crisscrossed the country in the last year to get a bead on just how the recession is playing out for the real people. We’ve covered the filmmakers behind “The Recess Ends,” run a piece by the Man in a Van project and noted the many film and TV projects focused on reflecting the recession. TheAtlantic.com’s intrepid reporter Christina Davidson has actually compelled authorities to action with her road-trip coverage of an elderly Sacramento couple in ill health who lost their home and landed on the street. The story got the attention of the Committee for Veterans Affairs, and days later, the couple received a check for $972,000 – the amount of 18 years of military pension back pay owed them…

8 Recession Road Trip Games

Even with the emergence of the “staycation,” many families will be hitting the road this Labor Day. So after the Harry Potter series ends on the DVD player, we suggest some timely car games to keep the fun rolling along. Print this guide and take it with you.

Spot a Sign
This one’s easy. In the wake of mortgage defaults and foreclosure-o-rama, for-sale signs dot the landscape like a new mutant weed. In a twist on “punch Buggy” or “slug a bug”—in which you punch the person next to you when you spot a VW Beetle—tag (we prefer it to a punch) the person next to you to signal you spotted a for-sale sign first…

The Recession Road Trip

You get laid off from your job. You file for unemployment for the first time. You’re wondering what comes next.

It’s a situation millions of Americans are experiencing right now. But as far as we know, only one of them packed up the peanut butter and jelly and embarked on a three-month road trip around the United States, with the goal of documenting how the recession is affecting people. Make that two people—since 26-year-old Austin Chu is doing it with his brother, Brian.

So far Austin and Brian have traveled through New Mexico, Texas, Nebraska, and Alabama, to name just a few, interviewing people they meet along the way. Today, they’re in Washington, D.C.—outside the White House, they accidentally met my brother.

We love their tips for taking a 21st century road trip on the cheap. But we’re even more into their videos, like their version of Fifty People, One Question, shot in Austin, Texas.